Newsflash: Music rendered worthless by feminine belly!

The f-word recently featured a post on the battle between musician Amanda Palmer and her record label over the commercial viability of her new single, ‘Leeds United.’

The fight between stodgy music execs and artistic vision is not a new one. However, the subject of this particular disagreement is not just the same old story. Apparently, Amanda Palmer’s new single is not commercial because of her “fat belly,” shots of which the record label wanted removed from the video, for fear it would… I don’t know. Digust people? Terrify them? Scare them away with its horrible belliful nature?

Mind you, this is coming from the label that represents musicians that are definitely not the pinnacle of male beauty. Y’know, guys like Megadeth and Slipknot and latter day Sammy Hagar. Last I heard, no one was harassing Dave Mustaine about the commercial viability of his Farrah Fawcett hair. So I guess what we can learn from this is that what matters most in life is the music that men make and the perceived belly flab of female musicians.

The video at the center of the controversy:

Amanda discussed her feelings on the matter on her blog, and her fans responded by starting a photo gallery of bellies rebelling against the idea that there is such a thing as an ideal female belly and that only male record executives know what it is. Join the rebellyon! Or just buy Amanda Palmer’s music and prove them wrong.

UPDATE: Amanda writes about what really went down with Roadrunner Records on her blog.

And here is my favorite Amanda Palmer song, and the one that got me hooked on her particular brand of punk cabaret, The Dresden Dolls’ ‘Girl Anachronism’: